Kerala High Court ruling on marriage after conversion: death-knell for Love Jihad?

In a rather interesting judgment,Kerala High Court has ruled that Marriage which follows a conversion will be invalid in the eyes of law. In this case, a Muslim man and a Hindu girl married after the Muslim man had converted to Hinduism. Interestingly, it was the girl’s father who objected! Not just that, the court also ordered that unless the marriage is complete under the Special Marriage Act, the girl – who is NOT a minor – will have to stay with her parents!

The Kerala high court on Tuesday ruled that marriage preceded by conversion – as a means to facilitate the marriage – will be deemed invalid before the law. It also controversially ordered the woman to stay with her parents until their marriage was solemnized in accordance with the Special Marriage Act, considering she is not a minor.

The court gave the order after hearing the case of a Muslim man and a Hindu woman whose marriage was solemnized with the backing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) after the man ‘converted’ to Hinduism. The man had produced a conversion certificate issued by the VHP and the marriage certificate was issued by a well-known temple in Kaloor.

Refusing to recognize religious conversion as the basis for marriage, a division bench comprising justices Pius C Kuriakose and Babu Mathew P Joseph asked the couple to register their marriage according to the Special Marriage Act. This was after Shaiju M (24) of Vilakkupara, near Anchal in Kollam district, filed a petition alleging that his wife, Ashwathy Raveendran (22) of Vayala in Anchal, was being detained by her father and uncle. (Link)

Now, this is a rather strange case because the things happen in reverse in Kerala due to “Love Jihad”. In Love Jihad – a movement started by many Muslim organizations covertly – Muslim men – sometimes pretending to be Hindu – somehow seduce Hindu girls and marry them after converting them! This practice has been a scourge in that state. Until now, there was hardly any way to fight that, except education. Because Islam doesn’t let re-conversion happen, so girls were stuck!

This ruling provides a strong tool in the hands of those who want to fight Love Jihad in Kerala. They can work to annul all those marriages and make sure the girls stay with the parents until the boys move the Special Marriage Act. It takes 30 days for the marriage to be solemnized after the petition has been filed, unless objected by either party. So, there is a substantial room for intervention if one needs to do it.